An addiction to drugs and alcohol creates a toxic environment that can cause you to lose touch with the necessary chores and functions of your everyday life in the real world. Addiction causes you to push aside those necessities. Life skills therapy is a process that will help you relearn what these needed responsibilities are. The staff at Miracles Recovery Center is ready to take on the task of preparing you for your new life of sobriety.
There are many areas of your life that you or your loved one may have neglected or abandoned while addicted to drugs or alcohol. Life skills therapy treatment program focuses on re-establishing that to meet the needs of each person after addiction treatment. The best way to overcome the void that is left behind from the neglect of these areas of your life is with education and practice.
One of the main goals of life skills therapy in preventing relapse. To get to this goal you must take the first step in recognizing where your weaknesses are. Life skills therapy will provide the guidance and the support that you need. This guidance and support will give you the strength required. You will become mentally and physically prepared to get healthy and remain healthy
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Why Is Learning Life Skills Important In Recovery?
It is very probable that while you were addicted to drugs or alcohol the most important thing in your life was maintaining the “high” that you were on. The things that were neglected at that time may have included something as simple as keeping your home clean to something as complex as taking care of your loved ones. Making decisions and acting on such responsibilities was not your number one priority. Personal development often takes a back place to everyday functioning and survival for persons who battle with mental health disorders or substance use disorders.
Addiction can also create a lack of self-esteem that requires the help of therapy and a treatment plan to correct. Life skills therapy provides the support and gives direction for rebuilding your mental state of mind. A high possibility for relapse occurs when there is no help with this process. Life skills therapy can provide the necessary tools to rebuild your life and offer other services such as psychotherapy, family counseling, occupational therapy, and mental health services provided by mental health professionals.
During the recovery process, you will learn how to handle the responsibilities that you neglected while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Learning life skills will instill better habits and cause these habits to become a normal process of your everyday life. Life skills are important for you to become a productive member of society.
What Are the Benefits of Life Skills Therapy?
Life skills therapy sessions for adolescents in recovery can have many benefits. Some ways that these activities help include:
- Promoting a healthy lifestyle: A life of addiction can cause you to neglect the needs of your own body. Health issues will decrease when you focus on making healthy choices.
- Creating a more focused recovery process: The lack of drugs or alcohol in your system will allow you to focus on the important things in your life. The recovery process will become a number one priority.
- Providing ways to communicate more effectively: You may have used drugs and alcohol to make you feel more socially adequate. You will learn how to communicate while staying sober.
- Strengthening relationships with family members: The lifestyle of an addict can shatter relationships. You will learn how to rebuild those ties with your loved ones that were broken or damaged.
- Increasing your self-esteem: If your mental health isn’t good then you will not have a chance to maintain sobriety. Steps to increase your morale and self-confidence will be taken.
- Worship and/or meditate: Taking time away from your busy life and finding a quiet, safe place to relax is important. Focusing on yourself and how you are feeling will heal your body and your mind.
- Maintaining a clean environment: Keeping your home clean and tidy will increase your feelings of accomplishment. It will also create an overall sense of order in your life.
Handling a budget: Being responsible with money will add to your emotional stability. It will create a sense of achievement which will increase your self-esteem.
What Types of Life Skills Will I Learn About In Recovery?
Life skills therapy covers a broad range of needs. There are three main areas that you may need to focus on during substance abuse recovery. Therapy is focused on these areas and they include:
Personal
Your mental and physical well-being are strongly affected while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. You may have neglected many aspects of your physical and mental health. You must learn how to regain control of both.
Your mental health may include learning how to manage:
- Stress levels
- Anger
- Self-harm tendencies
Managing your physical health may include learning how to:
- Practice good personal hygiene habits
- Learning about proper nutrition and diet
- Creating better sleeping habits
Professional
Acquiring and maintaining a job is a very important life skill. Acquiring a job takes patience and persistence. Your resume will need to be created and interview skills will need to be polished.
Getting a job will promote your self-esteem. This will create a sense of pride and accomplishment and will make you feel like a productive member of society. A job will also provide the income necessary to build financial stability.
Maintaining a job will instill a sense of pride. You will feel more confident and accepted among your family and friends. Having a regular paycheck will also increase your feelings of stability.
Social skills
The lifestyle of an addict does not create or promote healthy relationships. Life skills therapy will give you the support you need to increase your self-esteem that was torn apart with the use of drugs or alcohol. Alternatively, you may have began isolating yourself to the point that you no longer have the necessary communication skills to handle relationships with others. Life skills therapy will give you the tools you need to repair relationships that may have been severed.
Common Life Skills Needed to Maintain Sobriety
The goal of life skills therapy is to place you on the road to a lifetime of sobriety. This is an achievable goal, but it will take a lot of strength and determination on you or your loved ones’ part. It will require learning how to make good decisions in regards to every part of your life.
Relapse is possible because of the many challenges you will face. You will learn how to face these challenges without the use of drugs or alcohol. Life skills rehab helps by providing you with the skills to deal with these potential struggles.
Here are some common struggles that you may need to work on:
- How to deal with tempting circumstances. Situations such as attending parties or going to bars with friends or co-workers are common struggles for a recovering addict.
- How to deal with emotional situations that may produce stress or anxiety.
- How to establish routines that promote healthy eating habits.
- How to include exercise in your everyday routine.
- How to create better sleep habits so that your body is rejuvenated. Sleep is required to be ready to take on the challenges of each day.
- How to handle anger in better ways that are less threatening and more productive.
- How to ask for help when you need it. Whether it is attending church or a counseling session, it is important to know that help is available at all times.
Each individual plan with CBT is customized and tailored to that individual’s needs at Miracles Recovery Center on the Treasure Coast. This can include many other types of therapy in combination to maximize the benefit to the individual while in the care of Miracles Recovery Center.
Can Life Skills Therapy Prevent A Relapse?
There are no guarantees in life, and especially in a life of recovery from alcohol or drug abuse. Life skills therapy offers many tools to help you prevent a relapse. The statistics show that people tend to relapse during the early recovery stage.
Details about relapse include:
- Approximately 85% of individuals relapse within the first year of recover
- There is a 40% chance of relapse for those in recovery
- Men are more likely to relapse than women
One area that life skills therapy can improve upon is your mental health. Relapse may be avoided by improving your mental health because negative feelings are being dealt with. These negative feelings are ones that were previously relieved with the use of drugs or alcohol. Life skills therapy sessions can also teach coping skills that will allow you to deal effectively with relapse cues and temptations. Life skills therapy works to turn any negative feelings around and make you feel positive about your life.
Life Skills Rehab at Miracles Recovery Center
A life skills treatment center such as Miracles Recovery Center provides the tools you or your loved one needs for their recovery journey. We will create a plan that is individualized and focused on what is best for your or your loved one’s specific needs. Our goal is to help you become better – both mentally and physically.
Our facility is located on the Treasure Coast and offers a surrounding that promotes a healthy lifestyle with years of experience. You will find that our staff provides quality care and expertise in many areas. We are ready to answer any of your questions about life skills therapy. Life skills therapy can prevent relapse; learn to live sober by contacting us today at Miracles Recovery Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida.